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Tláymyts
Characteristics Modern Tláymyts is the most important language in Drion. Its main characteristics are the loss of old second person in both singular and plural, with the adoption of old formal address fuzi as the new second person form. This reflected in a change in pronouns and a great simplification of verb conjugation. Phonetically, the old stress pattern of non-tonic, semi-tonic and tonic syllables was changed to a simpler system with only tonic and non-tonic syllables, which affected mostly the vowels i''' and '''u. In nouns, a new case system was created, resulting from the use of prepositions as postpositions (which was already current in Classical Tláymyts) and then as suffixes. Articles were lost, although the number hon is still used as an indefinite article for emphasis. Phonology In the field of phonology, Tláymyts has developed in a very interesting way. The innovations that broke Modern Tláymyts apart from Classical Tláymyts are based on two factors: #Stress became functional in both nominals and verbs. #Semivowels tended to disappear, but always leaving some traces behind. Stress In almost all nekturian languages, stress does not play any role in morphology or vocabulary. That was true for Tláymyts as well, up to the Classical period. In modern Tláymyts, stress has a morphologic use in nominals (nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numbers) and verbs. In nominals, stress is used to distinguish between nominative and other cases. In the nominative case, words are always stressed on the first syllable (there are some exceptions). In accusative (and, therefore, in all other cases) words are stressed on the last syllable (no exceptions). So, e.g.: *'nêmay' "mine" (nominative), nemaí "mine" (accusative) *'fárè' "candle" (nominative), faré "candle" (accusative) *'êlnèmts' "sisters" (nominative), elnémts "sisters" (accusative) In verbs, stress is used to differentiate past tenses from present/future tenses. All verbs in any present or future tense is stressed on the first syllable (there are exceptions, see below), while all verbs in any past tense is stressed on the last syllable (no exceptions). For this division, conditional is put in the group of past tenses. E.g.: *stressed on the first syllable: **'éne' "loves" **'énèlanwts' "we will love" **'énèlè' "you/he/she will love" *stressed on the last syllable: **'ènwó' "loved" **'ènèlaí' "would love (sing.)" **'ènèlé' "you/he/she had loved" **'dylaí ènètú' "you/he/she would have loved" Semivowels Semivowels i''' and '''u have a tendence to disappear. However, they always leave some trace in the preceding consonants and, in some dialects, in the preceding vowels as well. A consonant that comes before the semivowel i''' is palatalized after it disappears, while a consonant that comes before the semivowel '''u is labialized after it disappears. So, we get: *'párw' "beautiful" *'méfy' "spaceship" Non-tonic i''' is written '''y, while non-tonic u''' is written '''w. The standard language only recognizes alteration on vowels resulting from semivowel dropping in the case of diphthongs. All old diphthongs are turned to monophthongs in the modern language (although they are still written as diphthongs in the standard orthography). So: *'dáy' (pron. ) from dái "aunt" *'dêw' (pron. ) from dö (pron. ) from dêw "uncle" *'ráyw' (pron. , ) from ráiu "lion" (i.e., a large fierce animal resembling a lion) In all these cases, the old orthography is maintained in the native Tláymyts alphabet. In diphthongs in which a semivowel comes before a vowel, there is no fusion. Aspiration In modern Tláymyts a vowel can not start a syllable. When this was the case, an aspiration is used. This aspiration is also used whenever a semivowel comes before a vowel. So: *'elaí' (pron. ) from old elai (pron. ) "would go (sing.)" *'ènwó' (pron. ) from old enúo (pron. ) "(you/he/she) loved" This aspiration, although present in all Tláymyts dialects with no exception, is never represented in writing. Syllable Dropping When a word ends in a stressed consonant and the following word starts with an aspiration (i.e., originally with a vowel), the starting syllable of the second word may be dropped: *'dylaí ènètú' -> dylaí 'nètú (pron. ) "you/he/she would have loved" *'fyeú híry' -> fyeú 'ry (pron. ) "he came" *'fyeú árè' -> fyeú 'rè (pron. ) "she came" Words beginning with yts-''' drop the semivowel together with the aspiration: *Old '''izdúlai -> ytsdúlay (pron. ) -> tsdúle (pron. ) "story" This occurs only in spoken language. It is never indicated in the standard orthography. Consonants The cosonant z''' becomes '''ts at the end of syllables. E.g.: *'béz' -> béts "peace" *'izdúlai' -> ytsdúlay "history" This variation of z''' has its own character in the standard Tláymyts alphabet. The aspiration ('''h) is not considered a consonant and is not represented in Tláymyts orthography, although it happens in all current dialects. When g''' comes before a stressed '''é, ê''' or '''í, it is pronounced as a semivowel y'''. So, '''gésè "house" is actually pronounced . In unstressed syllables there is no change, so the accusative gèsé is pronounced with a g''' just as it is written: . The consonant '''k may be pronounced as kh in stressed syllables. In one single word, íry "he", and its plural form, íryts , there may be a retroflex variant of the consonant r', when this word comes after a stressed syllable ending in a vowel, becoming thus a suffix. So: *'fyá íry 'hirj or 'fjaɻ *'zhikwó íry' 'hiɾj or dʒjkʍ'hɔɻ Dialect variation Some consonants have variations according to dialect. *f -> pf *v -> bv *r -> gr *l -> gl *sh -> *j (zh) -> *g -> *k -> These variations are more and more common in the standard language. Vowels Vowels are: In traditional transcription, the following convencion is used for representing the four possibilities of the vowel e': Some examples: *'elaí *'vèlahí' *'vwê' *'hárè' *'haré' There are also the vowels o, and resulting exclusively from old diphthongs. These sounds are not "productive" in the language and the closed o is even considered by many speakers as "wrong", and being tolerated because it still holds characteristics of its original components e and u. Semivowels The semivowels are y''' and '''w, corresponding to i''' and '''u. Monophthongs Old diphthongs (and triphthongs) do not exist anymore. They are pronounced as a single vowel (called a monophthong) or divided by an aspiration, depending on where stress falls on the word. *ai -> ay or aí *êu -> ew / or eú *éu -> èw / or èú *aiu -> ayw / or ayú Morphology Articles There is no definite article in modern Tláymyts. Old u'/'e are completely lost. The indefinite article (the same as the number one), ón , is generally not used, but is accepted and is regularly used in some dialects. Nouns Case Modern Tláymyts has developed a new declension system with seven cases. Nominative is the base form of the word and is stressed always on the first syllable: *'yésè' "house" *'húnan' "man" *'glémzè' "child" If the first syllable has the vowel i''' or '''u, it may be stressed or not. If not, stress is shifted to the second syllable: *'títsklèzè' or tytsklézè "disgrace" *'búlgèlè' or bwlyélè "crap" In these words, the form with the first syllable stressed (that is, with a stressed i''' or '''ú) are considered more "classical", "formal" or even "old-fashioned", while the forms with the second syllable stressed are considered more colloquial, modern. The accusative case has no ending, but stress is shifted to the last syllable: *'gèsé' "house" *'hwnán' "man" *'glèmzé' "child" *'tytsklèzé' "disgrace" If the word ends in a monophthong (that is, a vowel resulting from an old diphthong), the components are separated and an aspiration is placed between them: *'dahí' "aunt" *'dehú' "uncle" *'bwlgèlahí' "crap" In some dialects, even monophthongs inside a word are unfolded in the accusative, so: *'glahymzé' "child" The other cases are built upon the accusative, by means of one-consonant endings: *Genitive/possessive: '-t' (corresponding to preposition "of" or ending "´s") *Dative-Ablative: '-b' (corresponding to prepositions "to", "for", "toward") *Locative: '-n' (corresponding to prepositions "in", "at", "on") *Commitative-Instrumental: '-g' (corresponding to prepositions "with") *Abortive: '-z' (corresponding to prepositions "without") As these endings are remnants of old prepositions used as postpositions, they come after the plural ending. Example: Abortive plural is rarely used, either because of the meaning ("without shoes" would be the same as "without a shoe") or because of the resulting clumsy consonant cluster (tsz). Prepositions require the genitive case. E.g.: *'baldún bwldét' "by the door", "next to the door" *'zwplín nysét' "on the table" Prepositions always end with the locative ending (n'). The most common are: *'baldún "by", "next to" *'zwplín' "on" *'gwnún' "like" *'pyajún' "under" *'rètún' "beside" *'hamdlín' "between", "among" *'rwmshín' "far from" *'rwmkhún' "along" *'tamdlún' "inside" *'vwlén' "out of" Nominative vs. Accusative As has been stated above, in principle the only difference between the nominative and the accusative forms of a word is stress. However, due to how the language evolved phonologically, there are words that show great differences from one form to the other. Some examples: *'dô', acc. dehú "uncle" *'dé', acc. dahí "aunt" *'nyá', acc. nyhá "mother" *'byá', acc. byhá "fater" *'hêlno', acc. helnèhú "brother" *'yésè', acc. gèsé "house" *'yélw', acc. gèlú "car, vehicle" *'bó', acc. bèhú "bread" *'nóral', acc. norehál "woman" *'yó', acc. gèhú "dog" *'hékö', acc. hèkohé "water" However, in most words the difference is limited to stress: *'zêtèty', acc. zetètí "town" *'négemè', acc. nègemé "machine" *'hêmtsdedodw', acc. hemtsdedodú "institute" Plural Plural of nouns is in '-(i)ts'. There are some irregularities according to the original ending of the word. #Words ending in a vowel, semivowel or in '-m' add '-z': #*'vénerè' "family", pl. vénerèts #*'zêtèty' "town", pl. zêtètyts #*'hêlnèm' "sister", pl. hêlnèmts #Words ending in '-l' add '-its': #*'nóral' "woman", pl. nóralyts #Some words ending in '-ts' change this to '-sits', others remain unchanged: #*'byáts' "country", pl. byásyts #*'rébets' "pencil", pl. rébets #Words ending in '-n' change '-n' to '-mts': #*'húnan' "man", pl. húnamts #Words ending in '-er' change this to '-yats': #*'vêmèr' "ending", pl. vêmyats #Words ending in '-er' change this to '-ets': #*'péler' "barrel", pl. pélets #Some masculine words ending in monophthong '-o' (from èw) just add '-ts' regularly: #*'hêlno' "brother", pl. hêlnots #*'húlko' "organ", pl. húlkots #Feminine words and some masculine words ending in monophthong '-o' (from èw) change this to '-wits': #*'vlézo' "fraction", pl. vlézwits #*'péro' "balloon", pl. pérwits #Some other masculine words ending in monophthong '-o' (from èw) change this to '-éyts'; however, these words are rare in modern Tláymyts and, when used, tend to use a regular plural: #*'yó' "dog", pl. yéyts (rare, yéjwlw, pl. yéjwlwts is used instead) #*'yébedo' "captain", pl. yébedèyts (or simply yébedots) Adjectives Adjectives have only two cases, nominative and accusative. The accusative form is used for all other cases. Plural follows the same rules indicated for nouns. Example: There are adjectives with a masculine and a feminine form, and adjectives with a single form for both genders. E.g.: *'múfw, f. múfè' "new", "young" *'klémty' "great" *'vêmèr' "final" Only adjectives in '-w' have a feminine form which is always in '-è'. Adjective pún "good" has the feminine form pwé. Comparative Superiority The comparitive of superiority is formed with the adverb nyáts placed before the adjective: *'nyáts fáro' "older" *'nyáts múfw' "newer" *'nyáts vúldy' "stronger" In the modern spoken language, there are two possibilities for the pronunciation of this construction: #the adverb is pronounced as a noun in the accusative or locative case: nyháts fáro, nyhátsn fáro #the adverb is used as a prefix to the adjective: nyáffaro This last form is the most current. When this happens, the final '-ts' of the adverb is assimilated to the first consonant of the following word, resulting in a doubled consonant, and, in the nominative case, stress is shifted to the prefix: *'nyáffaro' "older" *'nyámmwfw' "newer" *'nyávvwldy' "stronger" The complement is put in the genitive case: *'nyáffaro rehít' "older than him" *'nyámmwfw hwodlút' "newer than the other" *'nyávvwldy mútst' "stronger than us" There are four adjectives that keep old nekturian irregular comparatives: *'pún', comp. nírol *'nér', lyún, comp. bôl *'klémty', comp. nyól *'bygámw', comp. námwl Superlative Relative superlative ("the most ...") has exactly the same form as the comparative of superiority: *'nyáts fáro', nyháts(n) fáro, nyáffaro "the oldest" *'nyáts múfw, nyháts(n) múfw, nyámmwfw' "the newest" *'nyáts vúldy, nyháts(n) vúldy, nyávvwldy' "the strongest" Absolute superlative ("very ...", "extremely ... ") is formed with the adverb nyúdw "very" placed before the adjective: *'nyúdw fáro' "very old" *'nyúdw múfw' "very new" *'nyúdw vúldy' "very strong" In spoken language, this adverb nyúdw is used either as a noun in the locative case (nyudún) or as a prefix. When prefixed to the adjective, the last syllable ('-dw') is assimilated to the first consonant of the adjective, resulting in a doubled consonant, and, in the nominative case, stress is shifted to the prefix. So: *'nyudún fáro, nyúffaro' "very old" *'nyudún múfw, nyúmmwfw' "very new" *'nyudún vúldy, nyúvvwldy' "very strong"